15 October 2008 – Issue n°1
 
 
 
Dear readers,
 
Welcome to the very first edition of the EWA Newsletter
 
With the receipt of this monthly letter you will not only be well informed about the different activities and initiatives of the EWA, but also of the new events organised by our association. We will also be providing you with interesting inside news directly from the EU capital Brussels , from the European Commission and the European institutions.The EWA newsletter also gives a good insight into the EWA member associations, into their activities and aims.
We hope that you will agree that the EWA newsletter provides expertise information and therefore proves to be of interesting reading, so that you might want to recommend it further to other water professionals and experts.
The EWA newsletter service is provided monthly and is free of charge.
 
 
 
EWA EVENTS
 
27-28 October 2008
MWWD 2008 – 5th International Conference on Marine Waste Water Discharges and Coastal Environment
Dubrovnik, Croatia ( more )
 
4th of November 2008
4th EWA Brussels Conference „European Water Management and the Economic Aspects of the Water Framework Directive
Brussels, Belgium ( more )
 
27-28 November 2008
Workshop on Capacity Development in the Water Sector
Sofia, Bulgaria ( more )
 
20-29 September 2009
CIWEM/ASTEE/EWA Conference “Water Framework Directive – Emerging Challenges ”
 
POLICY AGENDA
 
6-7 October
Meeting of the EP Climate committee / Report back on the International Expo on "Water and Sustainable Development" in Zaragoza (attending on behalf EWA Frédéric de Hemptinne )
 
15-16 October 2008
Meeting of WFD working group on priority substances
 
20 October 08
CEEP environment and water committees (attending on behalf EWA Frédéric de Hemptinne )
 
27 October 2008
Informal meeting with Andrea Tilche, Head of Unit "Environmental Technologies and Pollution Prevention ", DG Research (attending on behalf EWA Frédéric de Hemptinne )
 
30-31 October 2008
SPI-Water final conference ( more ). This is an important project because it has greatly contributed to the development of the WISE-RTD web portal (attending on behalf EWA Frédéric de Hemptinne )
 
13-15 November 08
2nd European Groundwater Conference ( more )
 
5 November 08
European Water Partnership conference ( more ) in Brussels “Saving Europe’s water - Its place in the EU Green Strategy”(attending on behalf of EWA Peter Cook )
 
5-6 November 2008
Next SCG meeting (attending on behalf of EWA Jean Philippe Torterotot and Frédéric de Hemptinne )
 
21 November 2008
Deadline for project proposals LIFE + ( more )
 
24 – 25 November 2008
Water Directors meeting in Strasbourg, France
 
8 January 2009
Deadline for submitted a proposal under the FP7 - Environmental research - call for proposals ( more )
 
16-22 March 09
5th World Water Forum in Istanbul ( more )
 
2 – 3 April 2009
2nd European Water Conference organised by DG Environment on River Basin Management Plan (RBMP)
 
 
 
 
The European Water Association opened a new office in Brussels . Positioned closed to the European Commission, the principal aim of the office is to strengthen the communication with the European institutions. The creation of an office in Brussels situated at 4 Rue de la presse, 1000 Brussels, Belgium and the appointment of the Head of External Affairs, Mr Frédéric de Hemptinne ( contact details ) will greatly improve the communications between the European Water Association, the European Commission and other relevant Institutions in Brussels. As each year EWA organises its annual conference in Brussels on the 4th of November to which more than 100 participants are expected. ( more )
 
The European Water Association sent report , to the European Commission on the results of the International Workshop on Sewage Sludge, held this April in Cambridge, UK. With this workshop EWA wants to renew the discussion on the Sludge Directive. ( more )
 
The EWA Working Group on Groundwater is invited to comment on the final draft of the Compliance & Trends Guidance. The role of EWA groundwater WG will be to give the common opinion related to this document. The same is expected with Risk assessment document in the near future. The next WGC meeting in Paris in November will focus on the update of the WG activities and perspectives beyond 2009. For more information contact Mr Zoran Nakic , Chairman of the Groundwater Working Group within EWA:.
 
The Commission organised series of informational workshops on the LIFE+ funding for projects. The most frequently asked questions from the workshops so far are gathered with answers from the Commission.
 
 
 
 
 
Water scarcity
 
On October 9, the European Parliament adopted an own-initiative report on water scarcity and droughts in the European Union (see report ), MEPs urge the Commission and Member States to acknowledge that deforestation and unrestrained urban development are contributing to growing water scarcity.
 
The report stresses that:
  • any supply of water regardless of the purpose of its consumption must comply with the principle of fair water tarification, thereby encouraging companies especially to use water more efficiently.
  • the cross-regional and trans-border nature of river basins can have a serious cross-border impact on upstream and downstream regions, and that it is thus indispensable for the Member States, as well as regional and local authorities, to cooperate on the issue of water scarcity and drought ensuring sustainable and fair use of water resources.
 
The EP calls on regional and local authorities to take advantage of the great opportunities offered by the Structural Funds and invest in the improvement or renewal of existing infrastructure and technology (in particular in regions where water resources are wasted due to leakages from water pipes) including, notably, clean technologies that facilitate the efficient use of water and can be linked to integrated water resource management (IRM), in particular to address the challenge of water efficiency (in terms of savings and reutilisation) in the industrial and agricultural sectors as well as on the part of domestic consumers.
 
The report stresses that planning for the European agricultural model should take account of the most frequent and acute environmental hazards as well as water scarcity and drought and that, in that context, an effective crisis management mechanism should constitute a fundamental element of the CAP.
 
See also the interview of MEP Richard Seeber on Euractiv on September 10, 2008
 
Soil Framework Directive
 
A proposal from the French EU presidency aimed at reviving stalled government negotiations on a draft soil protection directive has failed to win the backing of governments and the European commission even if it was made less binding than earlier. The importance of this proposal has to be seen in conjunction with the revision of the sludge recovery directive and the need to bring in organic matters for soil conservation. It seems now to be struck till the next EP election in June 2009 and the new commission taking office afterwards.
 
IPPC - BREFS
 
The European Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control Bureau –EIPPCB – in Seville has undertaken the revision of B est Available Techniques REF erence Documents – BREFS – concerning the waste water and waste gas treatment and management systems in the chemical sector (see the minutes of kick-off meeting on June 16-18, 2008).
 
 
Aquatic organisms are exposed to many stressors, including a variety of pollutants from human activities. New research suggests that commonly used models in toxicological studies can fail to adequately predict the range of effects of complex mixtures of chemicals in aquatic environments (see the EU Integrated project NoMiracle )
 
EEA catalogue of forward-looking indicators
 
The European Environment Agency produced an overview of the availability of forward-looking information (scenarios and indicators) across all themes and with various geographical coverage (see the report ). As it concerns water, these indicators are:
§         Use of freshwater resources
§         Urban wastewater treatment
§         Floods and droughts
 
Impacts of Europe's changing climate
 
The European Environment Agency has released the 2008 indicator-based assessment. Chapter 5 covers a.o. water quantity and fresh water ( see section 5 & 6 )
 
 
 
 
ASTEE and IWA organise the 2nd IWA Utilities Conference: European Conference on Water and Sanitation Services “Customer relations and citizen participation”. The conference will take place in Paris on the 9, 10 and 11 of December 2008.  This conference is principally targeting operators of drinking and/or waste water infrastructures. The attendees will have the opportunity to exchanges views on current concerns and practical experiences. ( more )
 
WASSER BERLIN (March 30 - April 3, 2009) offers the attractive combination of a professional trade show and an international congress program. This event brought together all relevant players from the political, scientific and technological communities, provided information to the general public, reported on the current status of scientific research, and presented potential solutions to modern-day problems. Over the past forty years, the WASSER BERLIN Congress has continued to gain importance. Numerous ties with partner associations and the active involvement of European and international organizations have given the event a much higher profile and made it more attractive to the water industry. Water management specialists from the public sector and private industry, engineers, building and civil engineering experts specializing in well-sinking, waterworks, pipeline construction and all other relevant industries; representatives of national and international organizations, procurement experts, water management professionals, scientists and representatives from associations and institutions; political decision-makers and high-ranking administrators. For further informations: Kirstein@dwa.de
 
The INTERNATIONAL FORUM which takes place every two years serves the exchange of experts of internationally engaged businesses and institutions for water, wastewater and waste projects abroad. Flanking strategies and measures of political and financial institutions demonstrate the sense of direction of engagement abroad. The presentation and discussion of concrete projects of German businesses abroad as well as the presentation of the water/wastewater situation by foreign speakers indicate a spectrum of possible German international activities. At the end of the technical papers the experts, in evening “fireside chats“, can exchange ideas and inform young engineering talent about the possibilities for careers abroad. The 4th International Forum is in February 3 – 4, 2009 in Fulda. For further informations: martens@dwa.de
 
CIWEM welcomes new presidential team . Alastair Moseley has taken over from David Rooke MBE and is joined by Ken Shapland as the new Vice-President and Malcolm White as President-Elect. ( more )
 
 
 
WISE newsletter
 
This newsletter is published on a biannual basis, just after the informal meetings of the EU Water Directors. This seventh issue describes achievements and developments in water and marine policies made during the first semester of 2008 ( more )
 
OECD positions on water issues
 
·         Remarks about “water prices for agriculture” made by Angel Gurría, OECD Secretary-General at the International Advisory Committee of Expo Zaragoza 2008 on 8 September 2008 ( more )
·         Remarks about “Water for All: A Matter of Good Governance ” by Angel Gurría, OECD Secretary-General, during the 13th World Water Congress in Montpellier on 1 September 2008 ( more )
 
FP7 projects
 
The catalogue "Water Research" briefly presents the related projects resulting from the FP7-ENV-2007-1 and FP7-2008-2 calls, including a short abstract, the partners involved and the overall grant proposed by the Commission. So far, it represents about 19 projects totalling €62,6 million out of the EC funding for the Collaboration 'Environment (including Climatic Change)' theme ( more ).
 
 
Kopernikus
 
The European Commission’s earth observation activities, previously known as GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) have been re-launched at a dedicated conference in Lille on September 16-17 that was organised in conjunction with the current French presidency of the EU ( more ).
 
New publication in EWA online journal E-WAter
 
“The Need for Greater Protection for Drinking Water Supplies”, Keirle, R. et. al. E-WAter Journal, 2008/05 ( more )